Project Arachnid
Who is it for?
All survivors
What is and what does it do?
Developed by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P), Project Arachnid is an innovative set of tools to combat the growing proliferation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on the internet.
Launched in 2017, these victim-centred tools crawl the clear and dark web in search of CSAM. When CSAM or harmful‑abusive content is detected, a removal request is sent to the hosting provider. Project Arachnid processes tens of thousands of images a second and is capable of detecting content at a pace that greatly exceeds traditional methods of identifying and addressing this harmful material.
Since 2017, Project Arachnid's activities have led to millions of images and videos of CSAM being removed from 1,000+ electronic service providers spanning nearly 100 countries worldwide.
How does it support child safety?
One of the most important outcomes of Project Arachnid is the psychological relief offered to CSAM survivors who have had no control over the distribution and ongoing sharing of their recorded sexual abuse. Every time their content is viewed, survivors are re‑victimized. By curbing the public availability of this content, Project Arachnid helps break the cycle of abuse for survivors, and address the very real fear someone they know may come across a recording of their abuse online.
Additionally, the international data regarding CSAM held by Project Arachnid and the insights this information can provide is significant to the fight against online child exploitation. To learn more, visit the Research page.